The growth and popularity of cellular telephone communications and other related personal mobile communications has been accompanied by a similar growth of antennas mountable on vehicles without damaging the vehicle. Window mounted antennas are typical of such antennas, particularly for communications devices in private vehicles.
Such antenna assemblies include a radiating member, typically an elongated whip, an external support base or foot connected to the radiating member and attached or mounted on the outside surface of a non-conductive dielectric member, such as a window, and internal coupling circuitry attached or mounted to the inside surface of the nonconductive dielectric member juxtaposed with the outer foot or antenna support base. The communications signal is coupled between the radiating member and antenna foot on one side of the window, e.g., outside a vehicle, and the coupler system connected to a transceiver located on the other side of the window, e.g., inside a vehicle.
UHF antennas of the type disclosed and claimed in Hadzoglou U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,660, have been sold worldwide. It would be desirable to simplify the construction and configuration of such antennas without adversely affecting their performance. The goals of reducing costs of antennas while maintaining their performance and the quality of their construction and avoiding other performance pitfalls requires continuing simplification and alternative construction techniques. The desirability of such modifications and the cost savings to the manufacturer and ultimately to the consumer are evident. It is important to guard against deterioration of performance characteristics of the antennas when attempting to reduce costs.